Improvement in canal-boats



UNITED STATES PATENT OEErcE JAMES ENGLISH, OF SYRAOUSE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND JON- ATHAN M. ROBERTS, OF BURLINGTON, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN CANAL-BOATS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 121,346, dated November 28, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES ENGLISH, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Tug-Boats; and I do hereby declare the following description and accompanying drawing are sufficient to enable any person skilled in the art or science to which it most nearly appertains to make and use my said invention without further invention or experiment.

The object of my invention is the construct-ion of the hulls Yof tug-boats so as to diminish the swelling or outward crowding of the water from the bow when the boat is in motion, and to avoid the agitation of the water at its surface by the action of the propeller that is used in driving them, thus especially adapting them for use on canals.

To more fully explain my invention I refer to the accompanying drawing and letters marked thereon.

Similar letters of reference in each of the iigures indicate like parts.

Figure 1 is avertical sectional view of my improvement on a line runnin g through the middle of the boat, showing a propeller in position. Fig. 2 is a bottom view of same. Fig. 3 is a front view of the stern of the boat. Fig. 4 is a front view of the bow of the boat.

Instead of building the hull of a tug-boat upon a center keel as is usually done, I construct two compartments or half-boats, A A, ot' any convenient length, and of suflicient width to give them the required buoyancy. The outer sides of `each of these compartments are formed to correspond with the intended outline of the hull when completed; the inner sides of them should be made straight, unless slightly tapered at their bows and sterns outwardly, so as to otter less resistance to the entrance and discharge of the water that is made to pass between them. These compartments or half-boats are to be placed with their inner sides nearly parallel to each other, or

so as to make the space between them slightly,

wider from the bow to the stern. They must also be placed far enough apart to allow of the placing and free working of the propeller within theintervening space B, and be built high enough to accommodate the propeller without any part of it extending below them. Across the tops of both the compartments A A and the intervening space B I frame a strong deck, E, irmly connecting the former, and constituting the bottom for the superstructure C. This deck at the bow should be a little above the water-line when the boat is fully equipped, and continued at about that height to a point a little aft of the propeller; but from that point it should be made to pitch downward, as shown in Fig. l, c, so as to terminate over the space B at from two to four feet below the water-line at the stern when the boat is in running trim. The space B is formed by the inner sides of the compartments A A and the connecting deck E, and must conform with the conditions hereinbcfore mentioned. The propeller may be of any description whatever, but must be placed forward of the inclination a in the deck E, Fig. l. The compartments A Amay be rendered more buoyant by making them air-tight and keeping them supplied with confined air.

The operation of my invention is as follows: When the propeller is put in motion the water is driven backward along the space B until it meets the inclined roof a, which turns or directs the current downward until it escapesforcibly astern. The driving of the water back by the propeller causes an intiow of water through the bow-opening of the space or passage B. This inward current at the bow of the boat nearly neutralizes the outward crowding of the water by the bows of the compartments A A, and allows the boat to be driven at high speed with but little sidewash or swell from the bows, as stated. rlhe propeller being entirely inclosed on the top and sides produces no agitation of the surface ofthe water, even when in the most rapid motion. The escaping current produced by the propeller through the space B is spent so deep below the surface of the water that it causes but slight movement to the water; and this, rather inward than outward to the track of the boat, leaving but little wake to be seen.

By my method of constructing' the hulls of tugboats the propeller-shaft may be made to accommodate a number of propeller-wheels, while at the same time by the confining of the water against their driving surfaces the tugging power of the boat is materially increased.

I do not claim, broadly, the employment of an open space beneath the boat for the reception of the propeller, for this feature I know is old, but

I claim as my inventionl. A tug-boat, having an open space, B, proportion a., open space B tapering slightly outvided with an inclined surface, a, located below Ward from the bow to the stern, and the propelthe Water-line andin rear of thepropeller, for the ler, all combined and arranged as described. purpose of direct-infr the Water displaced by the his propeller in a downvard direction, in order that JAMES X ENGLISH' its force may be expended Without great surface mark' agitation, as described. Nitnesses:

2. The tug-boat described, provided With the JNO. L. VAN VALKENBURGH,

compartments A A, hull G, deck E with inclined J. M. ROBERTS. (137) 

